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One Billion Rising 2021: Campaign demands food security and end to violence against women

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Women and other groups gathered at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City Sunday afternoon to participate in the annual One Billion Rising (OBR) global campaign on violence against women.

On its ninth year, the OBR worldwide is themed “Rising Gardens” to underscore the need for food security for the poor, especially women.

Some of the participants dancing to OBR songs. (R. Villanueva)

This year’s event in Quezon City was highlighted by the exchange of vegetable seedlings among participants to symbolize the women’s sector call for food security as well as a Php10,000 cash assistance for poor families.

The organizers said that aside from their continuing demand for an end to violence against women, they are intensifying their call for food security, livelihood, accessible health services and justice as the pandemic and worsening economic crisis batter the poor.

“The spread of the coronavirus exposed [the] worsened inadequacies in the delivery of public health and [other] social services in a neoliberal economic system. The militarized lockdown, one of the longest and harshest in the world, has caused an unprecedented crisis, with millions out of work and deprived of livelihood,” GABRIELA secretary general Joms Salvador said.

The LGBTQI+ community are once again present in this year’s OBR. (R. Villanueva)

Established in 2012 by playwright Eve Ensler and held annually across the globe on February 14, OBR has since become the biggest continuing global mass action in history.

Instead of celebrating a commercialized Valentine’s Day, the OBR gathers hundreds of thousands of women and supporters to join dance protests against violence against women.

OBR is also celebrated in key cities across the country, including Baguio, Iloilo and Davao.

One Billion Rising global director Monique Wilson. (R. Villanueva)

OBR global director and artist Monique Wilson said country directors all over the world decided to highlight the need for food security amid worsening social injustices this year.

“The theme Rising Gardens is a huge political resistance against violence against women and the violence of food insecurity, poverty, tyranny and the marginalization of women,” Wilson said.

Community garden destroyed

In her speech, Wilson pointed out that a community garden in Marikina City was destroyed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Sunday morning, depriving the community called Olandes harvestable vegetables.

In posts on her Facebook account, Gabriela member Lita Malundras reported that heavy machinery bulldozed a community garden that Wilson herself helped establish.

Community women look helplessly as their garden is being destroyed. (Lita Malundras)

“Ang bigat ng makita mo ngayong araw ng mga puso ang kawalan ng puso ng mga nasa gobyerno ang sirain ang pananim na pinaghirapan at ginastusan ng mahihirap. Ang lupa na dapat pinagkukunan ng pagkain. Walang awang tinatabunan,” Malundras said.

(It is heartbreaking that in this day of hearts, the heartless in government destroyed the crops painstakingly planted by the poor. The land that should for food production, they heartlessly filled up.)

The once productive vegetable garden was destroyed in a matter of hours. (Lita Malundras)

“Nakakaiyak na makita ang mga tao na pinapanuod na lang ang mga sasakyan na sumisira sa mga halaman na kanilang pinagkukunan ng pagkain sa araw araw. Bukas darating si (Secretary Mark) Villar ng DPWH at (Secretary Frank) Cimatu ng DENR, kaya daw minamadali nila upang makita ang kautusan ng mga hari. Isigaw natin ang walang katarungan na ginagawa sa mga mahihirap,” she added.

(We are in tears seeing the people helplessly looking at machines destroying crops for their daily sustenance. Tomorrow, Villar and Cimatu are coming. They are rushing things so the kings may see their orders followed. We must tell everyone of the injustices they are doing to the poor.)

The DPWH and the DENR are reportedly undertaking preparatory work for future construction projects along the banks of the Marikina River. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Mabining Mandirigma: A hero’s reminder of what we fought against

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Text and photos by Sanafe Marcelo

I was transported back in time as I sat mesmerized in the darkened theater, melodic voices enveloping my body, stirring my soul. I did not want to miss every single line by Nicanor Tiongson in this Chris Mallado-directed musical. Veteran stage actor and activist Monique Wilson enthralling me and the rest of the audience as Apolinario Mabini.

Scenes narrated the political intrigues in the time of Mabini, the main protagonist and one of the most important figures in Philippine history. As the “brains of the revolution against Spain,” the play showed how Mabini struggled to uphold the revolution and defend our Inang Bayan (nation).

Mabining Mandrigma means “The Gentle Warrior.”  The play is a precise presentation of who Mabini was, a gentle, revolutionary warrior despite his disability.

Monique Wilson is remarkable in her portrayal of the hero. Her heart and sincerity reverberates throughout the play, cloaking the audience like a thick fog in the early morn. What is exceptional is, she portrays a male character and ably carries it off. Such is her versatility, no doubt infused with the same fervor for national liberation as the hero she portrays. Her powerful voice rises among her co-actors, entertaining, teaching, imploring, as Mabini did during the years when a reasoned voice was most needed. 

The play’s anachronistic costumes were brilliantly designed by James Reyes, powerful messages in themselves. The cog wheels and the big classic clock as vital parts of the stage design help audience visualize the past’s connection with the present. The play also reminds the enthralled audience that young men and women answered the clarion sounded, a reminder so apt these days when young activists are vilified by their elders who, it seems, have forgotten this.

The songs marked the play’s progression. Their line evoked deep meaning, such that when the closing song begged, ‘Mahalin mo ang Pilipinas nang higit sa iyong sarili,’ there could have been no one that did not fight back tears. Indeed, some gave in and cried at Mabini’s tragedy, our history’s failure, our nation’s sorrow.

The play reminds us that history does repeat itself. What Mabini confronted in his day confronts us in ours. It begs the question, “Whatever our heroes sacrificed their lives for when, more than a hundred years after their mortal bodies have rejoined their beloved soil, we are still battling the very same demons?”

Mabining Mandirigma, an award-winning musical by the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) resident theater group Tanghalang Pilipino, is being staged for the fourth time at the CCP. It runs until September 1. #

‘Mabining Mandirigma’ restages at CCP

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The Cultural Center of the Philippines stages the award-winning steampunk musical ‘Mabining Mandirigma’. It is produced by Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident theater company of the CCP..

First staged four years ago, it is Tanghalang Pilipino’s 33rd season opener. It runs from August 16 to September 1.

Veteran stage actor Monique Wilson plays Apolinario Mabini, the first Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Philippines. It presents Mabini’s ideals and the challenges he faced. It focuses on Mabini’s life as the top adviser of President Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine-American War, his imprisonment in Intramuros, his exile to Guam in 1901, and his death months after his return to the Philippines in 1903. #

One Billion Rising 2019 condemns abuse of women and children

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Women’s groups Gabriela and Babae Ako, along with other progressive organizations gathered for the annual One Billion Rising (OBR) 2019 at Rajah Sulayman Park in Manila last February 16.

With the theme “Rise, Resist, Unite! Labanan ang abuso sa Babae, Bata at Bayan”, the event condemned what it called the Rodrigo Duterte administration’s misogynist and tyrannical attacks against women and people.

According to Gabriela, OBR 2019 was part of the continuing global campaign to end violence against women and to show solidarity with women from all around the world who are rising and raging against all forms of violence against women, especially those perpetrated by the state.

Through street dancing and protest, the groups vowed to intensify their struggle for women’s dignity, democracy and people’s welfare. (Video by Joseph Cuevas)

One Billion Rising 2017 to focus on violence of poverty

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One Billion Rising international coordinator Monique Wilson led the launch of the fifth year of its annual event with the theme “Solidarity against exploitation of women.”

Through dances and songs it has popularized since 2011, Wilson said their next celebration would focus on poverty and how it worsens the other injustices they suffer.

The One Billion Rising campaign again expects millions of women to gather on February 14 in countries all over the world.

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OBR2015: Rising for Revolution

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One Billion Rising (OBR) Global Coordinator Monique Wilson, with Gabriela Sec-Gen Joms Salvador, announces the big event slated for V-Day, Feb. 14, 2015. Rep. Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela Women’s Partylist calls for truth and accountability in the aftermath of the Mamasapano tragedy.